Red's Curry

Lt_Red

Lt_Red

Lt_Red

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21 Apr 2010
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<edit>Updated to version 2.0, its made all the difference this curry rocks now!</edit>

I have been cooking for as long as I can remember. I am 40, I started cooking cakes very young, moved onto whole meals and have got pretty good over the years I guess, bar some huge disasters along the way.

But never curry. I only started really cooking curry (aside from Pataks stuff) about 12 months ago. I have learned a lot in that time, but still feel totally out of my depth when combining spices.

The idea of this post is to show you my curry. This is a culmination of my experience in traditional English cookery, mashed with a bunch of idea’s I have picked up from various internet recipes, Rick Steins India Series and Chachis Kitchen (a very interesting lady I met by chance in a pub near Charring Cross a little while back).

I am interested in comments and criticism of this recipe, in terms of making it a better curry. My Missus loves it, but I cannot get consistent flavour although I appear to be doing the same thing over and over. And there is something not quite right about it I cant put my finger on… I will try to explain some of my reasoning behind my cooking decisions as I go along…

1. Here’s most of the ingredients I use. There is a bunch of dried spices and whole spices, the main meat here is lamb – I prefer to use shoulder but in this case there was none on the shelf so I got leg. For the sake of this description, its shoulder as this is a slow cook dish and just works better with a slow cook cut. I cut it into BIG chunks as the family just prefer big chunks of meat that fall apart…



2. <EDIT> I no longer brown the meat before cooking....

3. So here are the spices. On the left I have two dried chillies, a stick of cinnamon, a teaspoon of <edit>Fennel</edit> seeds, 4 cloves, one star anise about 6 black pepper corns and about 5-6 cardamon pods. On the right I have half a teaspoon of hot chilli powder, a <edit>tablespoon</edit> each ground coriander and garam masala, and ground cumin <edit> a teaspoon of turmeric and half a teaspoon of mace </edit>. <edit>I no longer use curry leaves</edit>



4. I drop the whole spices into the pot and wait for a few seconds until the fennel seeds start to pop and use a wooden spoon to slightly crush the cardamon pods to split them open…



5. Then I add a finely chopped red onion and cook it for about 10 minutes on a medium heat. Stir in a thumb sized bit of grated fresh ginger and 3 mashed garlic cloves and cook for another 3-5 minutes.



6. I boil the kettle and mix the dried spices into a paste and throw that in, cooking it until most of the water has boiled off and the spices and onion are well combined…



7. Then in goes 4 fresh mid-sized chopped tomatoes and a big whack of salt. I put more salt in than I would any other stew I cook, because there will be potatoes going in here later and spuds suck up salt (I used to use a peeled spud to correct stews that I had over salted – good fix there…). I add about 3-4 tablespoons of distilled vinegar, a pinch of soft brown sugar and stir it…



8. Then I cook that for about 10 minutes until it becomes almost a sludge…

 
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9. In goes the lamb shouler, chopped in big chunks along with any juice that came out while it was resting and I keep working it until all the meat is covered…



10. I then cover the meat with stock plus about a centimetre of depth so I have enough head-room to cook the spuds a bit later. I bring it to the boil, reduce to a simmer, stick a lid on and cook it for about 2 hours when using shoulder, 1 hour with leg…



11. After the cooking time, I peel a few spuds, chop them in quarters and chuck them in, increase the heat to a decent simmer and cook this with the lid off for about 30-40 minutes or until the spuds are tender…



12. I then get another red onion, cut the end off but keep the core intact and chop it into chunks so that they stay together and chuck them in along with some green beans. This is to add some crunchy texture. I cook this for about 8 minutes until the beans and onion are starting to soften. All the while the gravy is reducing and thickening…



13. Now my family have differing taste in terms of spicy heat. I love HOT curries, my good lady less so and my young son not very much at all. So I wait until the very end – maybe the last 5 minutes and throw in some fresh red chilli, de-seeded and sliced lengthways and cook this for about 3 minutes then turn the heat off. The idea is that whilst the curry is quite mild, the eater can temper the heat of the dish by chomping on a chilli. I make sure that the chilli’s still have a good crunch. I use red chilli’s because I used green once and my better half mistook one for a green bean and ran around shouting at me whist slopping water! She still berates me about that to this day. Won’t do that again…



14. Then I taste the curry, adjust the seasoning and make a judgement on the heat. I intend to temper the heat of the base gravy with greek yoghurt, to get it mild enough for my son, but before you can add yoghurt to this dish, you need to let it cool to less than 75 degrees or the yoghurt will split. In this case I needed about 3 tablespoons for yoghurt. I also throw in a bunch of chopped coriander and mix well. If needs be I bring it back up to temperature.



15. Finally sprinkle over some fresh chopped coriander and serve it up with Naan, Onion Baji, a dish of yoghurt, Mango chutney and basmati rice.



I would really appreciate some pointers here, in particular I would like to know your thoughts on the spice types, quantities, and methods of using them. I would also like to steer this a little more towards Jalfrezi.

Thanks for reading!

Red
 
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Oh you can do it with Beef as well - skirt or brisket is good - if using something like top rump cook the mid portion before the potatoes for only an hour. Chicken portions work well too, mid cooking portion for only about 40 minutes.
 
dpbadger said:
That looks excellent. Have you tried dry frying the spices first? My curries always taste slightly different.
Click to expand...

You mean heating the whole spices through in a pan before adding to the main pan? hmmm... not thought of that. I do that when using schekkkekkken (whatever) peppercorns with some of my chinese dishes...
 
Looks good. Going to give it a proper look-over tomorrow :) Not sure what I can suggest to help you perfect it or ensure things are a little more predictable but I'll give it a go.

edit: from a purely laziness point of view I'd also ask that you remove the spoiler tags :p
 
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OK sleep well :) Thanks in advance for any pointers!

I'm struggling with spice balance at the moment. I am generally putting pretty much the same amount of everything in the powdered spices, with a little more cumin. I think its muddling and mushing the flavor. Any pointers on balancing spice mix will be great!

Am I using too many spices? There's a lot of spice pots there don't you think? Have I mashed up too many ideas? Can I improve the taste by simplifying the recipe?

Should I be making a paste of the spices or just chucking them in? I'm trying not to burn the spices because that just tastes horrid (been there done that). Anything I can do to properly temper the spices without burning them?

Would it be a good idea to remove the meat at step 11 then removing the cinnamon, cardamon shells and dried chilies and then blitzing the sauce in a blender to make it smooth before sticking it back in the pan and continuing? Sometimes it come out a bit "bitty"....

Also, heat - how to control the heat better and get more predictable results. I am using yogurt to balance the heat at the end and that might not be the right way to do things.
 
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Good to see you're trying to make your own curry. It's possible to get better, more authentic curries at home than at your local high street restaurant. I noticed you're using supermarket bought spices. You'll save yourself a fortune by buying spices from your local asian food store. The only hassle is, that they come in plastic packets, so you need some kind of storage system. Kilner jars are good. Also, dry roasting and grinding your own spices improves the flavour of the spices, plus, whole spices keep fresher for longer. If you can be bothered, try to get into that habit; I can't! :p

Here's a few recipe specific pointers I picked out:

1. The meat in Indian cuisine is very rarely sealed before cooking. The only exception I can think of is in a tikka masala, where the meat is marinated and then sealed before cooking. But then, that's a Scottish dish, not an Indian one!

2. Whole coriander is very uncommon, mainly because it has a bit of an unpleasant texture. I'd suggest adding extra ground coriander, and using whole cumin seeds instead (dropping the ground).

3. Ditch the dried curry leaves. This style of curry is very northern Indian, where curry leaves aren't used. If you want to make a southern style curry with curry leaves, only use fresh. They are completely incomparable and non-interchangable.

4. Garam Masala is always added towards the end of cooking, it's almost a seasoning. Add a small amount about 10 minutes before the curry is finished.

5. I'd be inclined to reserve the dried chilli to make a tadka at the end. Essentially, you fry the chilli along with other spices to release the flavour into the oil (or ghee), and this oil is poured over the curry at the end. Try this with the chilli and cumin seeds.

6. Vinegar is very uncommon. If you want to create a sweet-sour balance, try using tamarind. Add this at the end of cooking when you adjust your seasoning for the final time.

7. Having potatoes and vegetables through the curry is uncommon also (except for tomatoes; yes, I know they're a fruit :p). I'd take the veg out, and make a side dish like 'Bombay' Potato or Aloo Gobi. Even Okra Stir Fry, or Kadhai Paneer.

8. I'd also ditch the fresh red chilli. It would be more authentic to stick to the dried red chilli for a tadka, or lose the whole red chilli altogether and use those fiery little green chillies. Split them down the middle, and fry them in the same way.

Hope that is food for thought. Also, if you fancy trying some other recipes, I have a ton of books on Indian cooking, so feel free to ask!
 
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Looks rather good. I'd try myself but the local is rather good, delivers and i'm lazy. :p

*The 'drafts' smell of it the next day too. :D:D
 
Looks amazing. I always go for lamb if I can - my favourite meat. :)

Whilst it may not be "traditional" I think it's good to add your own style :)
 
Lamb in curry is my favourite too. Pork shoulder works well though as it's very rich (as pork goes at least).

After that, chicken thigh. Beef doesn't do it for me in curry.
 
I have adapted this curry mostly based on advice above and changed it to version 2.0 and its really getting there now...

Made it many more times since the original post and made small changes here and there.

Change Log:

- Do not brown the shoulder at all just thow it in after the base becomes a paste.
- No more corriander seds - they were what was making the texture all wrong.
- Now use Fennel seeds which complimant the Star Anise.
- Use a table spoon of the main spices.
- Added a small amount of Mace.
- No more curry leaves.
 
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